Paradise
by Whitewind of Shadowclan
Summary: <html><head></head>They thought it was their sanctuary. They were wrong.</html>


**The prequal of Rise of Shadows. I don't own Pokemon. R&R.**

I couldn't remember a night away from my trainer. He and I were the greatest pair, a match made in, well, whatever being might be up there. Cale... Everytime I hear that, I immediatly think of that head of short black hair with eyes of the same color. And it makes my heart ache even more.

This place was built by Pokemon for Pokemon. Many called it paradise. They sent fliers out across the world. Trainers tried to keep their Pokemon from leaving, but it was no use. If the Pokemon didn't want to leave their lives, they'd be captured and brought there anyways. Not like many Pokemon actually liked their trainers, anyway...

I was young when I was captured. I still haven't evolved-not once! And, being a Pokemon who evolves with happiness, that must mean I'm still pretty young, guessing how much I liked my trainer. But I'm getting off topic.

The place-Paradise-was _beautiful_. I'd never seen a place so pretty. It almost covered up the fact that I was apart from my trainer. Almost. Pokemon walked freely around-no Pokemon, no trainers... No humans in general. It was like Pokemon living in a human's world.

Stores lined the side walks, people had homes of their own, parks could be seen with Pokemon, not children, playing there. Part of me thought this would be exactly what it was called-Paradise. But the other part of me longed to go home, to my normal life. But I never did.

When I entered the administration building, the place where you become an actual citizen of the city, they asked me for my name. No, not the nicknames that trainers force on you, but your _name_. I blurted out the name Cale had given me regardless. I didn't want to be known by anything but that.

Over the next few days, life seemed pretty okay. By about a week, I was certain I had finally settled in. But weeks turned into months, and mounths turned into seasons, and seasons turned into years... And that part of me still wanted to go home, to walk by my master, to help him in his dreams to become a Pokemon master... And it's never gone away.

Darkness had fallen and a dark, shadey figure dashed through the alleyways, a large sack grasped firmly in his hands. He made his way swiftly through the streets without being noticed and made his way towards the large building off in the distance.

_Faster, faster!_ He silently urged himself on as his slightly picked up entrance to the building was in his sights in no time, but that wasn't the way he was getting in. His entrance would be sneaky, silent, and unnoticed-hopefully. slipping his fingers through a crack in one side of the brick wall, he slowy climbed to the top. Once there, he spotted a guard. For a second, he pannicked, but then realised that he was fast asleep.

"Sleeping on the job, eh? Not a good idea," he whispered. The shadowy character tip-toed a bit before squatting on the roof and pulling out some of his supplies.

Slowly, the guard began to stur, blinked a bit, and sat up.

"Who's there...?" he asked groggily.

Pearl took another sip of her lemonade, her red eyes glued to the screen. What did those humans call it? A television or something? Speaking of which, the Pokemon wondered where the Council had gotten such a thing. Perhaps they'd stolen it from the humans outside. It didn't matter where it came from, though, as long as she could still watch the images that appeared on it's magical screen.

It was odd-the outside world at that moment was not much different then that of the show she was watching right now. It was dark since night had fallen a bit eirlier and the city could get pretty eerie at these hours. However, the Umbreon was not afraid of such things. She was a creature of the night, after all.

A pounding on the side of her doorless home made her jump. Pearl got to her paws and padded towards the door, letting out a sleepy yawn as she went. Grasping the curtain that worked as a makeshirt door and pulling it open, she saw who was there and growled.

"Um, hi... Pearl..."

The speaker was a green, red, and yellow Pokemon. Their general body shape was like that of a camelion. He stared at her with beady black eyes and in their black depths, she could see deep concern.

"Caleb," she said briskly.

"Look, I know you don't like me much-"

"Don't like you _much?_ Ever since you started hanging out with those freaks, you've been nothing but a jerk."

"Okay, yeah, yeah, I know." The black creature was suprised to hear that he wasn't even bothering to defend his friends. "But I found out something you'll never believe. Th-their on the side of the council and-"

"Yes, everyone is on the side of the council. Why is this such a big deal?"

"You don't understand!" There was a certain urgency in his eyes that almost scared her. "They-Avery and Max, anyway-are planning something..."

"Like...?"

"I-I don't know! But I... I saw them in the alleyway with some Umbreon. Kinda like you, but more... I don't know... Evil?"

"'Evil' how?" She was losing interest-fast.

"Well... Just the way he looked. Like, his face."

"His face looked evil...?"

"No, no, no! His expression, I mean. And they started laughing after talking for a bit. They had these really creepy looks on their faces..."

"They _always_ have creepy looks on their faces," Pearl said. "That's just the way they look."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, not really..."

"Pearl, they could be using their status as a way to cover up something! Something... not right..."

"Being on the side of the council, you mean..."

"Right! And if people find out that their doing... evil things, they'll go and think that it had something to do with the council. And if people think the council is corrupt then-"

"Then they'll overthrow the officials and our Paradise will have no foundation. And with no stable foundation, we can kiss everything we have now good-bye," she finished in a monotone. "Caleb, we've been over this before. One persons actions aren't going to effect the entire city."

"But-"

"Good night." She closed the curtain, but he opened it up once more.

"No, there's more! I think that it's more then their just covering something up! I think-"

"_Good night,_ Caleb."

With that, she closed it again and returned to her spot by the television. To her relief, he didn't make an attempt to reopen the makeshift door. After a while of silence from the outside, she assumed he's departed.

But part of her wanted to know what had made him so scared. Sure, he was pariniod about his friend's actions, but he had said there was something else bothering him. The dog-like Pokemon began to regret slamming the door in his face.

What else had made him so frantic?


End file.
